SECRET INVASION Star Cobie Smulders Discusses Her Shocking Story Arc and Maria Hill's Future in the MCU

If you haven’t watched the first episode of Secret Invasion, this article gets into spoiler territory. The first episode was pretty good and set up an interesting story, now let’s see if that story plays out strongly.

There were a few interesting twists and turns over the course of the first episode and it ended with Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill being shot and seemingly dying. When that happened, I can’t say I was surprised as there needed to be something tragic to happen to Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury to set him off and make this personal. We now know why he’s making it his personal mission to take down the Skrulls.

During a recent interview with Variety, Smulders talked about her character, that shocking ending to her story, and what the future might hold for Maria Hill.

When asked about any advance warning she got about being killed off, she said:

“I knew from the get-go, from the first call from [Marvel co-president] Louis D’Esposito. He gets to be the one to call people, I guess — he’s always called me — to be like, “You want to come and be in ‘Spider Man’?” Best job on the planet, I think, for him, to be able to be the bearer of such great news, even when the news means, “We’re thinking of having Maria Hill shot and…” — potentially dead, who knows? Who understands this world? There’s a multiverse. So I’ve known for years now that this was how the story was going to lay out. It’s been a wonderful ride. I’m so glad that nothing got spoiled. I kind of can’t believe it. Even talking about it out loud feels like I’m doing something wrong.”

The actress is then asked if she thinks Hill is really dead. In response to that, she said:

“I mean, it feels like the end? But it’s it’s such a vast, complicated, multiversed world that Marvel is living in. So I suppose anything is possible. This is all above my level of access, so I don’t know. Her death propelled the story in a much more vulnerable direction for the rest of the characters in the show. It certainly is increasing the stakes and setting up Fury to be in a very emotional state. That’s hopefully been accomplished.”

It seems like Maria Hill is a character that Marvel might keep dead, but who knows? Anything is possible, especially with the whole multiverse thing. Now no one can really stay dead. When talking about Hill not being able to be explored further due to her possible death, Smulders said:

“Yeah, her backstory hasn’t really been explored on camera, but it’s been alive for me, you know! I was very excited to sort of have these moments in “Secret Invasion” between the characters of Nick Fury and Maria Hill, where we do get to see the level of their relationship, how deep that connection goes. To be able to be the one to say, ‘You can’t do this job’ to Nick Fury is, one, terrifying, and two, is because of this level of intimacy that these characters have. So it was really exciting to be in a more playful space emotionally as opposed to focusing on the action. So yeah, I mean, again, her life has been very alive for me. But there’s a lot of characters in this world and there’s a lot of stories to be told. So I’m glad of the opportunities I have had to be a part of many, many productions. I’ve been very, very, very, very lucky.”

She then shares some things about Maria Hill that she wants fans to know that they never got to see of the character, saying:

“This is a woman who is all about her career and her work and has truly made this decision to put her life on the line. I feel like there hasn’t been too much investigating in terms of the people coming back from the Blip. What kind of emotional toll is there? I think in Maria’s case, she’s completely buried herself in work, and always puts that ahead of any relationship, any sort of personal time. I don’t want to say she has a family. I mean, she has, you know, parents and siblings, but I don’t think she has a family of her own. She’s a very deep, complicated woman, but has given up her life for the protection of others. I think it takes a very strong, compassionate passionate person to do so.”

Were you surprised to see Maria Hill killed in Secret Invasion? Do you think she’s really dead? If so, what are your thoughts on the character being killed off?